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Monthly Archives: July 2012

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We’re all familiar with the traditional soda or snack vending machines, but how about a shoe machine? Or a battery vending machine? Today I’ll share some of the world’s strangest vending machines with you…

I’m sorry that I didn’g get back to my posting last Tuesday as planned…funny story actually…I fainted in a drug store and then had to undergo some tests and such, but everythings fine and now I just get to relish in my embarassment. Haha! But anyways, I’m back in action here at Taxidermy and the 20th Century!

Okey dokey. So while I was away on vacation, I started to think about where would be some of the oddest places to travel. Of cource catacombs and haunted houses came to mind, but I was thinking about something more original, per se. So, after some digging I found what I think might be one of the absolute oddest and most beautiful places: The Seldec Ossuary in the Czech Republic.

As chance would have it, I unintentionally used a picture from the Seldec Ossuary in one of my previous posts about a wonderful Facebook page! What initially stood out to me was the artistic nature of the place. Not only is it grand and overwhelming, but it also has a sort of symmetry to it which is captivating.

The Seldec Ossuary is home to between 40,000 to 70,000 humans (well, their remains for that matter). In 1870, the Ossuary realised that it was in a bit of a disarray (a hoarders situation) and had to do something to bring some organization to the place. They hired woodcarver Frantisek Rint to “bring some order” to the place. What he ended up creating was a macebre mass of architecture.

Even though it may seem a bit like a specialised taste to want to visit a place like this, the Seldec Ossuary is actually one of the Czech Republic’s most visited attractions. It attracts over 200,000 visitors a year….hopefully i can add to that number.

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I will be unable to post today (or yesterday for some of you) or this coming Saturday. I am so sorry, but I am on an unexpected vacation and equipped solely with my phone, which makes it extremely difficult to write a decent post. I look forward to being back with you a week from today. Until then, have a wonderful week and fourth of July for those of you in the states. Adios!
-C

I’m so sorry about that short hiatus, things have been so crazy. I’ve been dealing with several international bureaucracies, and I don’t even really have a moment right now. Hopefully, I’ll get back on a stable schedule and be able to post more regularly. In the mean time, I’m going to do a series of posts about Getting to Know the 1800s, taking excerpts from Everyday Life in the 1800s by Marc McCutcheon. Perhaps it will entertain some of you, especially those of you who enjoyed the Olde Timey Insults! Funny what quaint slang they had back then, isn’t it?

Gotham: New York City.

You just thought it was from the Batman (admittedly, I accidentally wrote Bathman at first) comics, didn’t you? Well, actually, this name has been referring to the Big Apple throughout the early 1800s. McCutcheon cites a less-than-flattering description of New York City as Gotham:

“An Albany or Newark dog is well worth fifty cents, if brought to Gotham’s authorities, as if actually killed in Gotham’s streets… We understand that a dog’s flesh is quite a luxury in Gotham market.” Philadelphia Public Ledger, 5 August 1836.

Pigs: Kept as pets and as future food sources in yards, towns, and cities all over America. Thousands of them ran freely on New York City streets during the first half of the century.

Queen Anne House: A house style popular in the 1870s and 1880s in England and America, actually based on a combination of Elizabethan, Tudor, Gothic, and English Renaissance forms. Notable features included polygonal or cylindrical towers, bay windows, balconies, and ornate woodwork.

Groom’s Seat: A small seat or rumble seat where a groom or footman rode at the back of a coach or carraige.

Dugway: Popular slang for a simple, dug-out road.

George IV Phaeton:An elegant, slipper-shaped carriage with folding hood, pulled by two horses. This vehicle was very popular with women because it was graceful and was open to allow the passengers’ fashion to be seen and admired from the street.